Cross Country - California to Florida - August 2024

At the end of August, I set off on what was going to be my longest every road trip.  A drive across the country to Florida followed by a return to California.  It seemed like a good idea several months ago when I decided to do it, but as it got closer I thought maybe it would be too much.  I was going to pick up DIana in Florida and we would drive back together but it was going to be over 6,000 miles round trip.

Nevertheless, on a Friday morning after a doctor’s appointment and breakfast with the usual suspects, I set off from Sacramento.  The plan was to take a direct route on the outward journey and then a more leisurely route on the way back.  I drove down I-5 towards LA and then cut across to I-10 which would take me all the way across to Florida.  Not much navigation required.

Somehow Google Maps had decided that there was a road closure on I-10 somewhere along its path and it always tried to route me away from that direction.  The first mis-direction took me away from I-5 onto Hwy 99 and over the Tehachapis.  I didn’t like that so I switched back to I-5 south of Bakersfield and ignored Google’s directions.  For the rest of the trip it would periodically say that I-10 was closed and suggest another route, but other than a small diversion around a bridge in Arizona I didn’t see any closures on I-10.  

Traveling south on 99 I passed signs of the construction effort on the high speed rail link being built from Southern California to the Bay Area.  It looked impressive, but I wonder if it will ever get completed in my lifetime and what will the cost overruns be?

The Tejon pass is always impressive to drive.  I just love the way it snakes up the hill from the flat lands of the San Joaquin Valley up to the top of the pass and then down into LA.  I cut across on Highway 210, which cuts off the corner through Pasadena to join I-10 near San Bernardino.  I stopped for dinner in San Bernardino and then drove on for a while more before stopping in Beaumont for the night.

Trump Supporters in Pasadena

The next morning it was back on the road driving west.  The same thing I  would be doing for the next 5 or 6 days.

I traveled through the wind farm near Palm Springs and wondered as I have done many times before why some of the windmills are turning, while others are motionless.  Is that deliberate?  Are some windmills better lubricated than others?

It was then on through Indio, Coachella, to the border with Arizona at Blythe.  The Colorado River is still a sizable river outside Blythe but I think most of its water is sucked out of it before it reaches the sea in Mexico.

Quartzite

I stopped in Quartzite, the first town in Arizona.  That is a quirky little place.  There are many gas stations and fast food outlets but no reasonable coffee shops or diners.  The rest of the economy there looks like it is derived from mineral and rock specimen shops and Native American tchotchkes.  

Hi Jolly’s Grave in Quartzite

They make a lot out of their association with camels in Quartzite.  Back in the 1850’s before the railways were built in that area, the government decided that camels would be better than oxen or horses for transportation so they imported a hundred or so from Egypt and Turkey to form the US Camel Corp.  That worked for a while until the Civil War diverted effort elsewhere.  One of the US Camel Corps handlers, a Jordanian named Hadji Ali, or Hi Jolly as he was known, bought the remaining camels from the US Army and settled with them in Quartzite.  His gravesite is in Quartzite and camels feature everywhere in town.  Alas no camels exist there today.

Saguaro Cactus Quartzite

I stopped to take a picture of a magnificent Saguaro cactus in the back of a tchotchke shop and the owner of the shop came out.  I think he was wondering what was I doing on his property and I was realizing that he was wearing a pistol on his hip so I was on my best behavior.  We had a nice chat and he showed me around the adjacent small garage that had a collection of well-restored old cars.  We got on well, and despite the gun, I said I would stop by the next time I am in Quartzite.

Saguaro National Park, Arizona

It was 110 degrees in Quartzite and that temperature was maintained as I drove across Arizona.  I stopped for lunch on the outskirts of Phoenix and drove on towards Tucson.  Before Tucson I turned off to the Saguaro National Park, some 20 or so miles south of I-10.  The Saguaro cacti are quite magnificent and there were a lot of them.  The Park Visitor Center was a wonderful building too but it was closed.  I did a little hike around a trail at the Visitor Center and then continued on towards Tucson.

Thunder and lightning was rolling around the adjacent hills and as I drove towards Tucson it started to rain.  I searched out a nice hotel and found one called the Lodge on the Desert that looked very nice and quite cheap.  It was indeed a wonderful hotel, with a restaurant, a swimming pool, a hot tub and a beautiful room as well.  I dined at the hotel where there was also a jazz band playing in the bar.  Very nice.

St. Augustine’s Cathedral, Tucson

The next morning I set off to explore Tucson.  The city has a nice feel to it.  Large but not too large, very south-western with lots of cacti and adobe houses.  I stopped by St Augustine’s Cathedral to have a quick look inside (there was a service going on, it was Sunday morning).  

San Xavier Mission

Then I searched out a mission that John G. had told me about.  The mission San Xavier.  This was some 20 miles south of Tucson out in the rural agricultural area.  It was a beautiful mission, painted white with a terra cotta entry.  In the parking lot in front of the church several stalls were being set up selling food and drinks.

San Xavier Mission Interior

Inside the mission, it was even more beautiful.  Wonderful carved and painted altars and chapels.

Benson, Arizona

I moved on to the town of Benson, where I stopped for gas.  There were some nice murals in the town depicting the towns western/cattle ranching/stage coach/railway heritage.  While there a massive freight train came through town.  I had been seeing these extremely long freight trains since I left San Bernardino.  A lot of freight is being moved on these trains.  They were quite frequent.

Tombstone Old West Fashion Show

Tombstone Stage Coach

I drove south to take a look at Tombstone.  Tombstone of the “shootout at the OK corral” fame.  I found it to be quite touristy and very cheesy.  There was a western costume competition going on so there were a lot of people dressed in cowboy outfits and a lot of women dressed as ladies of the saloons.

Tombstone Courthouse

I did tour the Tombstone Courthouse, which was run by the State of Arizona and so was not so touristy.  They are very proud of their heritage and of Doc Holliday and what went on at the OK coral.

Butterfield Stage Motel, Deming

I left Tombstone and headed back north to I-10 and continued my journey eastwards into New Mexico.  I was searching for somewhere decent to eat but this area is a desert for eating places outside of McDonalds or Taco Bell.  I stopped in Deming and drove through the town.  There was nothing, save for a wonderful old motel sign for the Butterfield Stage Motel.

Typical House in Mesilla

Outside of Las Cruces I turned off to the old town of Mesilla. This is an old historic town, once the capital of the confederate state of Arizona.  It had a lot of fine adobe houses.  It looked quite gentrified now.

Continuing over the border into El Paso, I decided to stay somewhere in the downtown area.  I stayed in the wonderful old Plaza Hotel.  This was on South El Paso Street that leads down to the Paso del Norte crossing into Mexico.  I walked down to the border as the sun was setting.

The Rio Grande at El Paso

I inquired about crossing the border and they assured me that I could and that I could get back into the USA with my drivers license.  I paid my 50c to get through the turnstile and I walked over the bridge over the Rio Grande and into Juarez, Mexico.  On the way there was a lady having a struggle with her two bags so I offered to carry one for her.  She was from Modesto and had just flown in.  She was going over to Juarez, the town she was born in, to visit her mother who was in hospital.  We had a nice chat as we walked across stopping from time to time to take pictures of the graffiti laden banks of the Rio Grande.  Only graffitied on the Mexican side.  The US side was bare concrete.

The Return to the USA, El Paso

In Juarez I just walked across the road, through the long line of cars waiting to get over the bridge back to the US and paid another 50c to allow me to walk back to the USA.  I thought of the film “No Country for Old Men” where the main character throws the bag of money into the bushes on the US side.  Not possible now, likely never was.  It is a concrete enclosed river with freeways running along both sides and railway as well as road bridge crossings.

I queued for about 20 minutes to get through customs on the US side and then walked back up the street to my hotel.  A nice little adventure.

The next day I looked around for a decent breakfast place but didn’t find anything better than the Starbucks across from the hotel.  So it was a latte for breakfast.   I then set off to see a few sites in El Paso.  

Bhutanese Temple, UT El Paso

First was the Bhutanese Temple on the grounds of the University of Texas.  The campus was deserted (it was Labor Day).  The temple was quite beautiful sitting there in the middle of all the university buildings.  A gift from the King of Bhutan to the University of Texas.

Casa de Azucar

Next stop was the Casa de Azucar.  A suburban house decorated with carved concrete objects - flowers, religious symbols, altars.  Apparently the owner spent 25 years chiseling and then painting these decorations.  Just a simple house on a simple street in El Paso.

Chicano Park, El Paso

The next stop was Lincoln Park or Chicano Park, an area under a sprawling freeway intersection that has been decorated with impressive Chicano murals.  A bunch of guys were playing handball in a court area beneath the freeway.  A nice protected court as it was pouring down with rain.

John Wesley Hardin Gravesite

Finally I went to look at John Wesley Hardin’s grave.  He was an outlaw who apparently claimed to have killed 42 men.  Somehow he managed to convince the law that most were in self defense and so  only got a 25 year sentence.  He studied law in prison, was pardoned and set up a law office in El Paso.  He was shot and killed shortly after his release and was buried right there in El Paso.

Border Control I-10 outside El Paso

The rain was now pretty continuous and I set out to travel through West Texas.  A long and tedious part of the journey.  Just outside of El Paso there was a border control point and all cars and trucks were stopped and inspected for illegal immigrants.  I was let through. 

Van Horn’s homage to Jeff Bezos

Like the previous day it was a fairly boring drive and I was again looking for a decent place to eat.  Sadly nothing was to be found.  In Van Horn there was a small Blue Horizon mural with a smiling Jeff Bezos on it.  The launch site for Blue Horizon’s rockets is 30 miles north of Van Horn.  Van Horn didn’t seem to be prospering from its proximity to the launch site.

Fort Stockton’s Roadrunner

In Fort Stockton I again stopped trying to find a coffee shop.  Nothing interesting was to be found so I ended up in a Dennys.  Fort Stockton is miles from anywhere and is quite desolate.  The ruins of an old fort, a metal roadrunner statue by the welcome sign, but little else.

I drove on through the sometimes torrential rain with streams running down the side of the road until I reached Junction where I stayed for the night.  The only non-fast food place was a barbecue restaurant.  It looked promising, though not my first choice of food, but it was sold out of all meat except brisket.  A bad food day and it was still raining.

The Alamo, San Antonio

The next morning I pushed on from the damp and desolate Junction towards San Antonio.  Even though it was raining I decided to stop in San Antonio and take another look at The Alamo.  It is not the most memorable of buildings - rather small really but I suppose it has some historical importance.  

On to Houston where I visited friends and stayed for the night.  Finally a chance for some really nice food.

The next day, Wednesday, I pushed on towards Louisiana, through the refineries of East Texas.  Again it was pouring down with rain, sometimes bad enough to make driving on the freeway a little scary.  I stopped for gas in Vidor near the Louisiana border.  Not a very remarkable town.

Somewhere in Louisiana

In Louisiana, the road continued through Lake Charles, Lafayette and over the Mississippi at Baton Rouge before arriving in New Orleans.  I was going to stay there but it was raining so hard I thought I would be better just driving on so I did.  It was another good food desert.  I had been seeing signs for Cracker Barrel restaurants that looked interesting so I stopped to try one.  A big mistake.  Lots of heavy fried food served to overweight clientele by overweight waiters.  I regretted it.

I continued driving into Mississippi - Biloxi and Pascagoula - and then out into Alabama - Mobile - and further into Florida.  I stopped for the night in Pensacola.

I now had the bit between my teeth and was smelling the barn so I pushed on the next morning without  any sightseeing along the way.  East to Tallahassee and then turning off I-10 the road I had been on since LA, and heading south to St Petersburg.  Arriving there around 6:00 in the evening.  A total of 3,086 in 7 days.  I was ready for a well earned rest.

Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah National Parks - August 2024

In early August I made another trip to Florida to visit Diana.  Florida is not a pleasant climate in August so we had planned a trip up into North Carolina and Virginia to hopefully escape a little bit of Florida's heat and humidity.  We planned to visit the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley, both of them National Parks.

The Blue Ridge Parkway

In Florida we just missed Hurricane Debby that had made land fall along the Florida panhandle the day before our trip.  While we didn’t face the brunt of the storm we did get a lot of wind and rain as it passed by us to the west.

Flash Flood Alerts

We flew from St Petersburg airport to Asheville, North Carolina where we picked up a car for the duration of our trip.   We arrived in Asheville a little delayed and it was already getting dark so we took the direct route south instead of the more scenic Blue Ridge Parkway.  Our first night’s stay was in Cherokee which is at the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  

Cherokee is the capital of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians.  We all know the terrible treatment that the Cherokees and other Indians received in the 19th century and one is made painfully aware of it this part of the world.   The area is very beautiful - forested hills, mountains, valleys and many rivers and streams.  The Indians after living here for thousands of years were pushed out and moved to Oklahoma, where, whichever way you look at it, it is not such a green and pleasant land.  Their forced exit was the so-called Trail of Tears.

By some quirk of circumstance a small band of Cherokees avoided the extradition and were able to buy land in and around Cherokee and their descendants now form the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation.  They are recovering money from the white man by partnering with Harrahs, the casino people, and operating a casino.  

We searched for a nice place for dinner and what came up was Guy Fieri’s restaurant.  He is apparently a TV chef but I hadn’t heard of him.  His restaurant turned out to be in the casino so we went in for dinner.  We just made it into the restaurant before it closed.  We were the last and only diners in the restaurant but we did have a pretty tasty meal (chili and clam chowder).

After dinner we were walking back to the car through the casino and decided to spend $5 on a slot machine.  These are not the slot machines of my youth, they are very complicated affairs now.  We found one that looked the most familiar (it had a handle which I thought would operate the machine, but actually it was completely decorative and served no purpose at all).  We were quite confused and actually asked a women walking by for instructions.  $5 turned into 500 units of play which probably you could play one at a time if you had the patience, but various options allow you to play multiple 1 cent tokens per spin so you can get through the money fairly quickly.  After some time with 250 units left the machine appeared to freeze and nothing worked.  We were baffled by the machine and had to again ask someone for assistance.  We had apparently won some option for playing extra free games and there was a completely different screen above the main screen that required input.  Once we figured that out the machine went into auto-play mode and played our free games winning us $7.50.  That was a doubling of our $5 investment.  We cashed out our $10 and escaped while we could.

We checked into our hotel, the Great Smokies Inn, a rustic log cabin looking place.  The air conditioner was running all night - something you have to put up with in the hot and humid weather.

The next morning it was mediocre coffee in the hotel lobby and a relatively early start on our way along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  As we gained some altitude we could look back to the south west and see the Great Smoky Mountains.  We will have to visit that National Park some other time.  

View over Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smokies

As far as we could see in the surrounding hills and mountains there were trees - a mix of evergreen and deciduous.  It all looked very green and lush.

There were many turnouts and view points along the way and it appeared that the parkway was designed to handle a lot of visitors.  Early this morning in August there were not so many people on the Parkway.  Later in the fall I understand it is bumper to bumper.

Highest Point on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Looking Glass Rock

The road was in great condition and we proceeded at a sedate 40 mph or so along the very curvy road.  Looking Glass Rock was particularly notable as was Mt Pisgah.  The weather was mostly blue skies but as we got higher we did find ourselves in the clouds.  At the highest point, just over the 6000 ft, it was quite foggy.  

Biscuit Head Cafe, Asheville

By 10:30 we were in Asheville again and we stopped for breakfast at a wonderful cafe, the Biscuit Head Cafe.  So called because the biscuits are as big as a cat's head.  We immersed ourselves in Southern Cuisine and had biscuits with bacon and fried green tomatoes - simply wonderful and one of the best meals of the entire trip.

The Jackson Building, Asheville

We explored a little of downtown Asheville.  It is quite a nice town with some  lovely old buildings.  One building, the Jackson Building, is referred to as an early sky scraper.  By today's standards it is not so tall, but it is a beautiful building.

Woolworth's

There was an old Woolworths store, which was now an art gallery but the signage remains, a nice Kress department store and many other older fine buildings.  

Historical Marker - John Humphries Lynching

There were many historical markers, most of which were commemorating the days of slavery and black inequality.  One marker was commemorating a lynching of some poor teenage black boy, wrongly accused.

The Biltmore Mansion

In the early afternoon we left the center of Asheville and went to the Biltmore Mansion and Estate which is just outside of Asheville.  This is one of the finest American homes of the Belle Epoque era built by George Vanderbilt, the grandson of the Shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt.  The impressive mansion sits in the middle of a wonderful park.  The grounds and gardens being designed by Frederic Olmstead (the architect of New York’s Central Park among other things).  

The Biltmore Dining Room

The Biltmore Library

We had booked a tour and we spent a delightful couple of hours touring the home and the adjacent gardens.  George Vanderbilt had a wonderful vision for this place and he executed it very well.  The house is like the finest English stately home, upgraded with the latest that the early 20th century had to offer - electricity, hot and cold water, fire sprinklers, heating, bathrooms with each guest room, a swimming pool, a gym. Sadly George didn’t live to see everything completed as he died in his 50’s from complications after an appendix operation.

The Conservatory

The Water Garden

The gardens, by Frederic Olmstead, were quite grand.  The long sweeping driveway up to the mansion, the lawn in front of the mansion, the Conservatory, the beautiful formal gardens and the water garden.  Once upon a time the estate covered 125,000 acres but today it is a more modest 8,000 acres - still a large and very impressive property

The Omni Grove Park Inn

We then went to visit the other gem of Asheville, the Omni Grove Park Inn.  This beautiful old hotel built by a Mr Edwin Wiley Grove in the 1800’s is simply spectacular.  Mr Grove made his fortune by developing and selling an allegedly tasteless quinine concoction to combat malaria.  Prior concoctions were notoriously bitter tasting.  At the time he sold more bottles of his medicine than Coca Cola were selling of their soft drink.

The Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock

Before nightfall we had to make it a little further along the Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway so we set off on our drive to Blowing Rock.  There were some beautiful views in the evening light.  There was a little rain too giving us impressive rainbows over the mountains.

The Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock

The town of Blowing Rock, named for the strong winds in the area and where the updrafts are so strong that the snow falls upwards in the wintertime.  We found it to be quite the cute tourist town with hotels, restaurants and manicured flowery streets.

Our hotel for the night was the Green Park Inn, an 19th century Inn, that was once perhaps the finest hotel in the area but is now struggling to compete with more modern offerings in the rest of the town.  The staff too were not very welcoming - at check in the sad looking receptionist made a point of listing all the things that we couldn’t or shouldn’t do or else we would be charged.  The next morning breakfast in the dark wooden restaurant was similarly unwelcoming.  I realize it is a struggle to keep an old hotel building going but the first thing they could do would be to hire friendly people to welcome guests with a smile and not a list of rules and regulations.

The weather was not cooperating now.  We had received several weather warnings about flash flooding and recommendations that all travel should be avoided.  We felt we really didn’t have an option other than to proceed and anyway we were driving the ridge line of the Blue Ridge Mountains - rain was running away from us on either side of the hill.  Hurricane Debby, which we escaped in Florida, had been proceeding very slowly north and while not a hurricane anymore it was bringing large amounts of rain to the Carolinas and Virginia.

We abandoned plans to hike to the suspension foot bridge (one of the sites along the way) and decided to continue our drive north.   A short distance north of Blowing Rock was the town of Boone and since Diana had a friend that owned a home there we diverted into the town to take a look.  It was a fairly large college town with a nice old historic district.  We didn’t stop but went back to the Parkway and our drive north.

It pretty much rained the entire day and it was some serious rain.  There were times when it seemed to be abating but then it would get dark and the wind would blow and the rain would pour down again.

It did make the drive quite interesting - lots of leaves and branches in the road and the occasional downed tree.  Fortunately nothing to prevent our progress until we got to a road junction where the Parkway was closed and traffic was diverted around.  

The diversion eventually took us back to the Parkway and we proceeded north to Roanoke.  We left the Parkway there to get a bite to eat in Roanoke.  

Roanoke was not the prettiest of cities.  It was relatively large and industrial but not really very inviting.  We went into the old center and found a place for lunch.  Not the greatest lunch either.  We did the biscuits, eggs and green tomatoes again but they were nothing like Biscuit Head’s in Asheville.

Back on the Parkway again we headed north in the rain and wind.  At times we were up high with the clouds below us, at times we were in the clouds, and all the time there was rain.  We came to one intersection and the Parkway was again closed.  We followed the diversion for quite some distance until we came into Waynesboro, our stopping point for the evening.  

Waynesboro was also a drab industrial town.  Google told us that the town is one of the larger superfund sites as a result of a DuPont spandex/lycra factory in the town.  Efforts are still underway to clean the place up.

We found a restaurant in the old Main Street (the Heritage on Main).  It looked pretty good and had a decent menu but the dishes (calamari and lamb) were just too different and not in a good way.

That night we stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Waynesboro.  While Holiday Inn Expresses are all the same and lack character, they are all clean, efficient and have everything that you might need.  

Monticello

The next morning we set off for Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s house some 20 miles east of Waynesboro.   The rain had stopped and it was now quite warm and because of all the rain very, very humid.  It was not at all pleasant to be outside.

Jefferson's Study

We did the highlights tour of the house and gardens and it was most interesting.  Mr Jefferson, the second US President, was quite the well rounded man - a man of many interests.  Much was made of his slave ownership and his relationship with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, who bore him at least 6 children.  Different times.

Jefferson's Bed in the Wall

Jefferson designed the house and added many interesting features - a 7 day clock, a wall bed, a dumb waiter just for wine bottles, an ice house, a smoke house for meat.  The tour was thoroughly enjoyable.

Main Street, Charlottesville

From Monticello we headed towards the nearby town of Charlottesville to have a look around.  Pleasant enough but nothing too exciting.  In the old part of town we had cake and coffee before going on to drive around the grounds of the University of Virginia (created by Thomas Jefferson).

Shenandoah National Park

It was then on to the Parkway which at Waynesboro becomes the Skyline Drive of the Shenandoah National Park.  At the entrance to the park they told us that we would not be able to drive through the park because there were downed trees.  We decided to go as far as we could go just to see what we could.  There was a lot of debris in the road and a lot of downed trees pushed off to the side of the road.  When we encountered some workmen clearing the road we were told that the road was now clear all the way through.  That was great news for us as we were staying that night on the Skyline Drive at a hotel near the highest point of the drive.

A deer unconcerned about a passing car

We had the luck to see a black bear running across the road in front of us.  A beautiful animal, jet black and shiny and moving quite nimbly.  There were also many dear on and around the road.  They weren’t at all intimidated by us and at times we could pull up right next to them.

View from balcony at Skyland

We reached our hotel, Skyland, late in the afternoon, only to find that the hotel was out of power.  That was unfortunate but the hotel was in a really nice location with great views of the Shenandoah Valley below.  It wasn’t so much a hotel as a collection of cabins scattered through the forest.  It had been built in the late 1800's as a mountain retreat resort.  While there was no power there was just enough water left for a warm shower.

Mimslyn Inn, Luray

Unfortunately the lack of power meant the restaurant was closed so we had to drive down into the town of Luray for dinner.  We stumbled upon a wonderful old hotel, the Mimslyn, with a great restaurant, Circa 31.  We both had a great meal and then made our way back up the mountain to Skyland where the electricity had still not been restored.  

Spotted Lanterflies

Interestingly in Luray, we parked our car next to a tree that was covered with colorful bugs that we later learned were Spotted Lanternflies, an invasive insect from China that is causing a lot of concern along the East Coast of the USA.

Sunset on the Skyline Drive, Shenandoah

The sunset views driving back to Skyland were quite impressive.

Next morning there was still no power but at least there was coffee and muffins in the reception area.  We continued on Skyline Drive north towards the end of the park.

Waterfall at  Lands Run

As we had time we did a little hike off the road down to a waterfall near Lands Run (mile 9 on the Skyline Drive).  It was a most pleasant walk down the hill to the waterfall, if a little warm heading back up to the car.

We then drove out of the park into Front Royal, the town at the northern entrance to the park.  Front Royal was kind of a cute touristy town with antique and bric a brac stores and coffee shops.  We had lunch in one, sitting outside watching the world go by and listening to the most annoying girl talking ceaselessly in a high pitched voice - she just didn’t stop.

The Shenandoah River at Morgan's Ford

After Front Royal we headed out to look at the Shenandoah River.  We found it a spot called Morgan’s Ford and the river was in flood.  It had at one time been flowing over the road bridge but now the waters had receded somewhat.  Nevertheless there was a huge amount of water flowing downstream.

Virginia State Capitol, Richmond

We then drove, mainly on the freeway, for a couple of hours to Richmond from where we were leaving that evening.  We parked in the center of Richmond and walked around the State Capitol complex.  There were some fine buildings and the Capitol park had many statues including an impressive one of George Washington on his horse.

George Washington Statue, Richmond

We then drove out to Richmond Airport, got rid of our car and caught our flight back to Tampa.  All in all, a great trip made more exciting by the remnants of Hurricane Debby.